Sacramento air travelers warned of delays, tied to Hurricane Sandy

Thousands of flights nationwide canceled ahead of hurricane

Sacramento air travelers are closely watching reports about storm Sandy after some of the nation's largest air carriers canceled thousands of flights.

Major airports along the northeastern seaboard have closed to most air traffic as Sandy brings heavy rains and intense winds to the coast.

Air travel-related website flightaware.com said 6,800 flights were canceled -- and more could follow.

Flights out of Sacramento on Monday were all listed on-time, but travelers were worried about their connecting flights to points further east.

Tina Graff and her husband learned at the Sacramento International Airport on Monday morning that their flight home to Pittsburgh, Penn. had been canceled and that their connecting flight -- from Sacramento to Chicago -- had also been canceled.

"I want to at least get to Chicago," said Graff, adding that she would prefer to be stuck in a Chicago airport, closer to home, rather than Sacramento's airport.

Cathy Pearson was hoping to get home to Virginia, but realized she could be delayed by a day or two due to the storm.

"I talked to my daughter there. The schools are closed, UVA is closed," Pearson said. "I work at UVA, so I’m assuming there’s no work anyway, when I get back."

By getting an early start, David Lombardi was hoping his flight would touch down before the storm made landfall.

"My flights are all on time. My buddy is delayed. I should be arriving around 3:30, just before the storm makes landfall," Lombardi said.

Airlines have waived ticket-change fees for travelers impacted by the storm.

A longtime Sacramento travel agent told KCRA 3 the storm is having a big impact on his clients.

"We're getting a lot of calls saying 'my flight has been cancelled,'" said Pete Patel, the owner of Universal Travel. "Over the next few days, it will get worse."

Monday night, some travelers getting off a flight from Houston told KCRA 3 they had seen a lot of problems at other airports around the country.

"They canceled our flight on Saturday," said Tracy Prim, traveling from Tampa. "But then re-instated it on Sunday. Of course by then, we switched to another flight."